1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to an apparatus and a method for data compression.
2. Related Art
Data compression, or source coding, is a ubiquitous process in computing that involves encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Data may be compressed for a variety of reasons, including, for example, reducing resource usage such as data storage space or transmission capacity. However, because data compression (e.g., encoding) requires data decompression (e.g., decoding) for the data to be usable, data compression is subject to a balance between space and time (e.g., data compression may save computer space, but may also increase processing time due to decompression).
The design of data compression processes also involve other considerations, including the degree of compression, the amount of distortion introduced (e.g., when using lossy data compression), and the computational resources used, to compress and decompress the data. Accordingly, there is a continual need for data compression schemes that can reduce storage space while increasing data accuracy after decompression and while decreasing processing power and time used to compress and decompress data.